Arabic Bread

[warston]

i know that they call it Pita bread in UK specially, but it's not the same at all

as a Syrian , please let me represent for your our
famous bread that we do, and actually what 95% of the
people are eating.

we have just 1 common kind , but for me it's the most
tasty bread i ever tasted

with the ingredients below u will be able to do 10-11
loaves depends on how thick you decide to go for each
loaf

ingredients:

- 1 kilo wheat flour
- 2 heaping tsp salt
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- water 500 ml
- 150 gr wheat flour


you will need:

- big bowl ( plastic or glass )
- pin roller
- cheese cloth

mix all the ingredients above ( except the 150 gram
wheat flour) and the dough should turn to something not
sticky and not solid, you may need to add little water
if it was solid, or you may add more flour and mix it
if it is watery.

then leave it covered with cheese cloth in any big bowl
for more than 6-7 hours

then u will see that the dough is fermented and puffed,
this is the indication that we wanna get.

then start cutting balls ( the above ingredients should
make 10-11 balls )

then u try to flat it with the pin roller to end up with

flat round loaf shape ( to do so, u will need the extra
150 grams in this way:
u will put dust the place u ganna flat the loaf on with
some flour to not let the dough stick and then u will
roll. as the loaf is stretching and going bigger u will
need to add more flour. repeat this til u get your loaf
as thin as u can)

now we are ready to bake !! if you are using an oven,
then u can put 3-4 loaves together ( depends how big the
oven is. be noticed that u need to keep some spaced
between the loaves) on mid-high degree and keep and eye
on it, it should be baked in less than 3 minutes !
once you see your lovely loaf start to puff up totally
then it means now almost ready to take off and just need

to wait til the loaf get some toasting ( see the photo 4 )

get it out, and let be cool over some cold surface (
never cover it because it will allow the humidity to
spoil the crispy parts of the baked loaf)

- if you are using pan then u ganna set your guys on
high temp then wait til the unsticky pan is heated up
well, then u low the gas down to mid-high temp and at
the loaf in the pan .. keep an eye on it til it puff up
, then flip it to the other side and let it bake ( u can

check time to time whether if it is enough to take it of

or not)





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[Snags]

looks excellent thanks for that

[warston]

looks excellent thanks for that

thanks sangs ! i'm excited to here some feed back after someone try to do this

[tomwal]

Thanks warston, always looking for a different bread to try.

Cheers

Wal

[yotmon]

I'll try and give it a go this week and will give feedback on how it turned out.

Thanks, yotmon.

[Snags]

Quick question
Is it more traditional on a hot plate or oven ?
and
I would love a recipe or two of what the average Syrian traditionally eat with it.

[warston]

Quick question
Is it more traditional on a hot plate or oven ?
and
I would love a recipe or two of what the average Syrian traditionally eat with it.

Yes Snags it' more traditional with oven than pan. have a look:

[ericrice]

They do look good and if I can get them started at lunch time today I'll be enjoying them tonight if all goes well.

Question - how do you store them and how long wil they stay fresh? I'm thinking not long....

[warston]

They do look good and if I can get them started at lunch time today I'll be enjoying them tonight if all goes well.

Question - how do you store them and how long wil they stay fresh? I'm thinking not long....

hi Eric ! ya u can store them in the fridge like 5-6 days
in the freezer : 10-12 days

[ericrice]

Thanks Warston - did them last night and they tasted wonderful. I do have on additional question I hope you can help with - I did 4 total and the puffing up had varying degrees of success. On two of them they only puffed up well on half and the other half stayed pretty flat resulting in no pocket. Any suggestions on what causes that and how best to avoid it in the future.

[warston]

Thanks Warston - did them last night and they tasted wonderful. I do have on additional question I hope you can help with - I did 4 total and the puffing up had varying degrees of success. On two of them they only puffed up well on half and the other half stayed pretty flat resulting in no pocket. Any suggestions on what causes that and how best to avoid it in the future.

i'm happy you liked it Eric !
well it must all puff as in the picture. may i ask:

1- how many hours did u leave the dough to ferment ?
2- while doing the flatting of the balls to make it a loaf, was the dough kinda hard to flat ? ( solid a bit ?)

Roger

[ericrice]

Dough fermented for 7 hours. Tryng to think back to the actual consistency of the bread I don't think I had a hard time flattening it out.

[warston]

Dough fermented for 7 hours. Tryng to think back to the actual consistency of the bread I don't think I had a hard time flattening it out.

hmmm i don't know which yeast you are using , but i don't use the fast fermenting one, and for this ot's recommended more to do the dough at night and then in the next morning to bake it
another reasons come to my mind is the thickness of the loaf u made , and the power of the fire ( it should puff in 2-3 minutes ) or it might be the mixing of the dough was not so well ... it might be many reasons actually ... but with experience you can know exactly how to do it perfectly
check how it went with me tonight even with 7 hours fermenting :







that was chronological ascendant

the last photo is after hitting the loaf to let the air go out from it and let the whole layer down roast and take the heat with the borders ..

for more inquiries plz ask me

[yotmon]

Hi Warston, do you use 'strong' bread flour or just plain wheat flour ?

Yotmon.

[Ruby Slippers]

Great! A recipe for baladi bread! I love it - can't wait to try this!